Former Dallas ISD chief of staff Jerome Oberlton pleaded guilty Wednesday in a federal court in Georgia to taking $60,000 in kickbacks while overseeing technology in Atlanta Public School.

As part of the plea deal, Oberlton will serve three and a half years in prison and repay $735,000 to the Atlanta school district, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has reported. His trial was scheduled to begin next week, and he faced up to 105 years in prison.

Superintendent Mike Miles hired Oberlton to be his second in command in January 2013. He resigned in May, when he told Miles he expected to be federally indicted.

Oberlton and a technology consultant, Mahendra Patel, took $60,000 in kickbacks for giving a $780,000 Atlanta schools data warehousing project in 2007 to a Detroit company. Oberlton oversaw Atlanta’s technology department at the time.adobe creative suite 6 master collectionOberlton and Patel were friends and neighbors in Kennesaw, Ga. They conspired to defraud Atlanta Public Schools and committed money launder and mail fraud.

Patel pleaded guilty after the indictment was unsealed in June. He has not been sentenced yet.